Why You Should Go To Web-Based Apps

For 2 years I worked closely with agents across the nation at the BPO Automation Group -and now that I'm with Agent Press Room, I still do. Real Estate agents are uniquely more mobile than other professionals, and from what I've found they're also more open to change.

When I started Agent Press Room, I made the decision to focus exclusively on subscription-based web-apps like Team-Callback and Team-Workflow. While this fits with my past career experience, it also runs against everything that we did at the BPO Automation Group - which was a very successful and profitable venture. So, why?

Some Notables about Web-Based Apps:

1. Web-apps require you to be online to work. This used to be a big deal, but these days the web is everywhere - and your desktop computer is not. When you look at it that way, web-based apps actually have BETTER connectivity, since you can access them from anywhere.

2. Portable Licensing. Simply put, web-based licensing isn't tied to a particular PC, and thus you can access the application from the office, on the road, or at home after hours. It gives portability to a single user license that you just can't get in a desktop app.

3. Better web standards. Firefox and Internet Explorer tend to play well with each other nowdays, which means that web-based apps are more reliable than in the past. On a PC, this can be a pain - but if you've got a website that requires Internet Explorer, then it can be a big problem for Mac users. Obviously, desktop software is even worse.

4. Easier support. Fixing an issue with a web-app almost always resolves it for all users - whereas with PC's you can have several small issues that have the same symptoms, so fixing one person's desktop application may not resolve the problem for everyone. This also means the developer spends less time doing support and more time adding new features.

5. Better Communication. On the desktop, everything's based on 'files', and most of the time what you do with those files is up to you. Web-based apps are typically much better integrated with services like your Facebook or Linked-In social networks, which gives them an inherent advantage in communication with other applications to move your data to its destination.

Those are some basics, but what I've just described hasn't changed that much in the last few years. So why start going web-based with your apps if you're happy with your desktop applications?

There's one GIANT reason, and that's mobile devices. The playing field is changing - not everything is running on PC's anymore, and the web is the only way to provide a consistent user interface across multiple operating systems. It is becoming the single bridge between the software developer and the customer.

What worries me about real-estate (and the REO community) is the sloppy workmanship being put into web-based apps these days. No product ever starts out perfectly, but unfortunately the lower barrier to entry for web-based applications have made it easier for people who really shouldn't be doing software to put their hat in the ring.

You know what I'm talking about: clunky, hard to use websites for tasks that are simple on your desktop. That gives web-applications a bad reputation, and that slows the transition from desktop to web. That's especially painful in real estate, though, where so many agents use Macintosh computers and have trouble with anything Windows.

The other factor that worries me is pricing: web apps do not cost as much to develop, support, or license as desktop applications do. However, you've got companies pushing web-based apps for $50 a month that end up costing far more than a desktop app with similar features would over the course of a year's time.

I've set our pricing for Agent Press Room between $10 and $20 a month, and that goes mostly to labor costs. Programming costs money, but not as much as all the support infrastructure that goes into a desktop application does. Hopefully as our products mature, I'll be able to drop prices over time - this has been a standard practice in the rest of the industry, and I'd like to see it in real estate as well.

Adjust your perspective about web-apps:

1. Change your expectations. Web-based apps aren't as full-featured as desktop apps. They tend to do one or two things very well, but don't have a billion features like a desktop app does. That's fine, because you're subscribing for a lower dollar amount to fulfill a specific function that probably doesn't need the bells & whistles. Besides, studies have shown that users don't even know about 95% of the functions available in Microsoft Word and Excel, and don't miss not having them. In fact, fewer buttons can be nice sometimes.

2. Less human interaction. Salesmen are some of the most expensive labor a company can have. That little "chit chat" you have before you buy the software contributes heavily to the price. If you do more of your own research and insist less on a salesman telling you things that are published online, you'll end up with products that save you a lot of money and have the same features (or more) than the ones the salesman would recommend.

3. You don't need a box. These days most software is a download anyways, so you don't get a box half the time with a desktop app, either. However, sometimes we resist the "download only" option because it's nice to take home a shiny new box - but keep in mind that the box gets thrown away and the app will be outdated in a few months. Your web-apps will always be the latest version.

4. Develop a login/password strategy: Maybe you've already started this. Spend a bit of time organizing your URLS, logins, and passwords for various websites - store them in a safe place (your head is the safest, if you have a good memory). As the web stands right now, you're only going to have more usernames & passwords over time, so it's best to organize them now.

5. Invest in your network: I highly recommend a 5ghz RangeMax router, which also requires a 5ghz card for your PC. It's actually 10 times faster than regular WiFi, and has longer range - all for less than $100. Netgear makes good stuff. Also, make sure your web-browsers are up to date, and you may consider using the "Tools" -> "Manage Add Ons" feature in IE to disable some of the junk plugins that slow your browser down.

6. Get used to subscriptions: When somebody gives you a bill for your water or electricity every month, it doesn't seem out of place - but if you get a bill for using a website, there's always quiet resentment about the "recurring fees". Agents like to list how much those subscriptions cost over 1 to 5 years, but I'd recommend looking at a single month to see whether or not your $20 investment is worth it for that month.

7. Get used to a different development model: Desktop apps are driven to release every 2 to 3 years (or 6 to 9 months at BPOA) - and there's a pressure to add features to sell more boxes. Web apps don't have this pressure, so the app can be more focused on core-comptencies. Internally, in a software company this means that more time can be spent on usability and fixing bugs than on tons of features & remote support, which are the hallmark of the desktop.

I hope this has been helpful - my own customers are using tablets and iPhones everywhere these days, so I'm happy to have products they can use from any device over the web. If you've been holding out & have a ton of desktop apps, I'd definitely look at how you can start to transition to web-based apps.

It's a changing world: nobody likes thinking about software as a "monthly bill", but at the same time there are advantages to that model. Ultimately, the market itself is shifting into the cloud, so the time to transition is now, before you're stuck clinging to outdated software that nobody supports.